Chilean Wine Prices to Increase

First, record rains and humidity. Then, wildfires. The past year hasn’t been easy for the Chilean wine industry. And via Bloomberg News, this will drive price increases across the board for Chilean wines.

The Chilean agricultural ministry estimated a 10% smaller harvest in 2017 compared to 2016. This smaller harvest is pushing grape prices up relative to the prior year. In 2017, while bottled wine prices rose only 0.4%, bulk wine prices rose a whopping 15% compared to 2016.

In essence, the truly “cheap” value days of Chilean wine are probably over. In some ways, this makes sense given that the land mass, and hence acreage under vine, of Chile is significantly smaller than neighboring Argentina (130,000 hectares versus 224,000).

More specifically, Bloomberg mentions Carmenére as the major varietal suffering from the recent difficult weather. These weather-induced struggles will also be exhibited by Vina Concha y Toro SA, Chile’s largest wine producer.

The silver lining? All of this is in line with the 2025 plan presented by Wines of Chile, which seeks to raise the average price and demand for Chilean wine.